We were just discussing this amongst some friends the other day......

I think it really varies from child to child.

I wanted to avoid the potty thing, as like Mooshie, I am not a fan. But we bought one just in case, along with a set of steps with the little seat and handles, (I am not sure of the brand, I think it is made by Safety First, and we bought at BigW).

So we tried both, as Olivia was very adamant that she "no like nappies anymore Mummy" LOL!

She wouldn't have a bar of the potty, but used the lid of the potty to climb up the the loo "like Mummy does", so we realised her preference was for the steps and seat to the real loo....

My neice, on the other hand (who is the exact same age as Olivia) would only go on the potty........go figure.

I think you need to experiement as to what works for your child...........sadly this may mean buying both, but neither are expensive........from memory we bought our potty for around $20 and the seat steps thing was $40 ish.........